Driving to the Yukon Part 1

You’d have to have a few screws loose to drive from Ontario to The Yukon in January…

You’d have to have your whole brain missing to do it in a Volkswagen Jetta sedan…

Well, that’s exactly what we did. Of course at the time I had my reservations but we thought, “How bad could it be?” We made i but looking back, it’s a miracle we did.

Back in January, after browsing Indeed for a new job, I came across a listing for a position to take care of Huskies in Whitehorse, YK. For my long term readers, you will be well aware of my love and passion for dogs so of course this ticked a lot of boxes for me. Working with dogs tick, a new location tick, a new way of living tick and of course an adventure on the way, big tick.

After getting the job after only applying 20 minutes before hand (red flag ignored) we began the long and painful process of packing up our car and moving out. This was even more stressful than when I first came to Canada. It’s amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in such little time.

Our employers on the farm were great and understood that we wanted to do something new before the end of our visa. They were really accommodating to us and it was hard saying goodbye to them and the cats and cows of course!

When the day finally came for us to leave, we tried to leave at 4:00 am. However due to the snow, we first had to dig out the area around the garage so we could leave. So it was more like 4:45 am by the time we were on the road. Not ideal but not the end of the world.

We didn’t manage to squeeze in many stops on the way due to the time crunch but we did manage to stop and see the Big Nickel.

Periodically we got caught in a few patches of snow which was stressful and a bit scary but the roads had recently been scraped so overall it wasn’t too bad. That was until we got to Agawa Bay.

The road was closed and the queue of traffic was at a stand still. After around 15 minutes, three scrapers left the road and optimistically (or perhaps naively) we assumed the road had been cleared and everyone was leaving for the day and soon we would be moving. Two hours later, we realised that this was not the case and we needed a plan B.

Plan B was going to be a detour which involved driving back the 148 kilometres we had just come from and heading into Michigan. Although we were reluctant to do so after covering so much distance, it wasn’t looking promising. So this is exactly what we ended up doing.

You’re probably understanding why I said you’d have to have your brain missing to travel to the Yukon in January now aren’t you?

Very tired and hungry, we eventually crossed the border into Michigan at Sault Ste. Maire. We decided against trying to find somewhere to stay online and just drive as far as we could to make up for the lost progress.

This took us to the Clarke Motel in Eckerman where we were greeted by a yellow and a black Labrador, who were both barking, announcing our arrival. When we got to reception, the owner was very apologetic and explained he had no rooms ready at the moment but he could have one ready asap. He told us we were welcome to hang out at his bar and help ourselves (we’re not big on drinking so he had nothing to worry about there) whilst we waited and even gave it to us for a discounted price for the wait. (I’ve said it before I’ll say it again, I love Americans. They are the kindest and most helpful people I’ve come across on my travels).

It wasn’t long until he reappeared and gave us our key. After some very tired chit chat (and nonsense on my part) we got to our room and I’m not exaggerating when I say that I was asleep within seconds of my head hitting the pillow.

This day had been one I would never forget (and wouldn’t ever want to repeat) and there was still so much more to come.

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